Two-day transport strike kicks off in greater Chattogram

CHATTOGRAM, Apr 28: A two-day transport strike began in greater Chattogram including Coxs Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari on Sunday.

The Greater Chattogram Public Transport Owners and Workers Unity Council called the transport strike  in protest against what they said, the recent activities of the students of the Chattogram University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) over the death of two fellow students when their motorcycle was hit by a bus.

They presented four-point demand.
The council called the strike in protest against the arrests of linemen and other transport workers.

CUET students vandalised and torched  transports on the Chattogram-Kaptai Highway, and the governments raided against unfit transports.

Mohammed Musa, secretary of the council said that public transports including buses, minibuses, coaches, tempos and autorickshaws will go off the roads to realise the four-point  demand.

The demands include action against those indulging in anarchy on the Chattogram-Kaptai Highway and release of transport workers detained at different places.

Transport workers are barring public transports on the streets in those districts increasing commuters sufferings.

Due to the transport strike not a single bus left the port city for Coxs Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari and none came to Chattogram either.

Dhaka-bound buses also did not left the port city.

On April 22,  two students, Shanto Saha of the 20th batch and Taufiq Hossain of the 21st batch of the civil engineering departmentof CUET died when their motorcycle was hit by  a bus of Shah Amanat Paribahan.  A third student was severely injured.

CUET students blocked parts of the Chattogram-Kaptai Highway in protest against  their deaths and vandalised several buses of Shah Amanat Paribahan.

The local administration held a meeting on Tuesday and took the decision regarding  compensation for the families of the victims and the injured student. Also, they decided to meet some of the other demands of the students, including expanding roads.

On Wednesday, police arrested the driver of the Shah Amanat bus that hit the motorcycle.  The students, however, continued their protest demanding compensation of Tk 20 million for the families of the dead.

As the vandalism and torching of vehicles continued on Thursday, the CUET authorities closed the university for an indefinite period and asked students to leave the residential halls.

The protesters gheraoed the Vice Chancellor and some of the senior faculty members on the campus on the same day and locked all thedepartments. The CUET authorities backtracked and allowed the students to stay in the residential halls.

The students blocked the roads again on Saturday morning. Amid students protests the Sramik Malik Oikya Parishad called the transportstrike.